


Nightmares

by mythireandfire



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Oghren's snoring makes an appearance, Romance, Snuggling, the dog is in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8184362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythireandfire/pseuds/mythireandfire
Summary: Tamlen is abruptly awakened after having nightmares about the Archdemon and encroaching darkspawn horde, and finds he's not the only to have bad dreams that night.





	

Tamlen woke cold, shaking, a sheen of sweat covering his body. He sat up, his heart going wild, and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes to try to erase the image of the Archdemon that was burned into the back of his eye lids.

Ever since the party had returned from Orzammar and the Deep Roads, the dreams he had been _blessed_ with since becoming a warden were becoming more vivid and much, much more horrifying.

The worst part for Tamlen was the singing. The song of the Archdemon had become a background noise for him and most of the time he could tune it out to just a buzzing in the back of his mind. But lately he caught himself humming and swaying slightly to it, only to stop when he caught Mara and Alistair watching his worriedly. He felt the Taint was stronger in him than the others since he’d had direct contact with the blighted mirror. He was only grateful that Mara wasn’t affected quite as deeply.

At the thought of her, Tamlen turned to check on Mara but found her side of the bed roll empty. Pulling back the flaps of their tent, Tamlen spotted her sitting in front of the bonfire in the center of camp. The fire had burned down to low flickering flames, and he could see the shape of Feron sitting up against Mara’s side.

Tamlen snatched one of their thicker blankets and exited the tent, making his way down to the fire. He paused outside of Alistair’s tent, but moved on when he heard nothing but peaceful snoring. At least one of them was getting a good night’s rest.

Stopping behind Mara, Tamlen watched as she tilted her head back and gave him a small, tired smile. “I hope you’re not going to try to get me to come back to bed.”

He gave her an equally exhausted grin. “I was actually going to ask if I could join you.”

She patted the spot next to her, opposite of Feron, but he settled behind her and pulled her against his chest, wrapping the blanket around them. Mara leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder and he pressed his cheek against the side of her head. The war hound huffed at having to rearrange himself, but lied contentedly enough along their outstretched legs.

They sat there in relative silence, listening to the familiar and comforting sounds of the Ferelden night life—which was broken with abrupt thunderous snores from Oghren’s tent. They laughed gently at the sound, and as Mara relaxed fully against him and the warmth and scent of her body wrapped around him, Tamlen felt the last vestiges of the nightmare fade away.

Mara sought out his right hand and threaded her fingers through his. “I’m guessing you dreamed about him too?” she asked softly, her voice barely carrying over the crackling fire.

“Mmhmm,” he murmured into her hair. He felt her shiver and knew it wasn’t from the chill in the air.

“It’s every night now. Oddly enough I think what scares me the most about the Archdemon is his song. It is getting harder to…ignore it. I bet it is worse for you though isn’t it?” He let silence be his answer and he felt her grip tighten on his hand. “I thought so.”

“It’s not so bad,” Tamlen tried to lie lightly, rubbing his cheek against the side of her head affectionately. “I get a little sleep deprived but then I can camp out under the stars with you like we used to do. Seems like a win win to me.”

“That’s not funny,” Mara whispered harshly.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Mara sighed and then twisted her face to place a kiss under his jaw. “I’ll fix this,” she said, her lips moving against his skin.

“Fix what?” Tamlen asked moving away slightly to look at her face.

Mara stared at him intensely her eyes roving over his face. “Fix _us,_ ” she waved her hand to encompass Tamlen and herself, “and Alistair. We’ve made sure that the treaties will be fulfilled, Eamon has his army, and I intend to be in the front lines to kill that monstrosity. Once it’s dead, the dreams will stop.”

“For a while anyway,” Tamlen said, a cold pit settling in his stomach at the thought of Mara facing off with the Archdemon. “The song will never truly go away.”

“Maybe not,” Mara agreed, but then continued. “I’ve been talking with Alistair about the Grey Wardens he knew and he told me of one who used to be a Warden with Duncan.”

“Used to be? Did they…did they go to the Deep Roads?” Tamlen had been there when Alistair had told them of the Calling. The idea of going back down there to die…it left a sour taste in his mouth at the thought of it.

“No, she never heard the Calling because she was cured of the Taint.”

“Cured of the Taint,” Tamlen said slowly, processing the words. “How?”

“No one knows according to Alistair.” Mara shook her head in frustration. “They apparently ran several tests trying to recreate the process but nothing. They ended up severing her from the Grey Wardens and sent her back to the Circle she was recruited from.”

“They kicked her _out?”_ Tamlen said, his voice going up an octave in disbelief. Mara shushed him, her hand shooting up to cover his mouth briefly. He moved out from under her hand but snagged it before she could lower it, lacing his fingers with hers again. “Sorry, I just can’t believe they would kick her out when she seems like, I don’t know, a key. A hope for some of the older Wardens who’s Taint is farther along. I know they didn’t find anything but they could keep trying!”

Mara nodded in agreement. “I know that’s what I thought. Her name is Fiona and I intend to find her when all of this is over. I want to continue wherever they left off because I _refuse_ to just end my life one day because some damn song of the darkspawn pitches its tune.” He felt her hand squeeze his. “And I’ll be damned if I let it have you either. I’ve been through too much to keep you here.”

Tamlen closed the short distance between them and kissed Mara fervently. The whisper of lips and mingled breathing were soft sounds that were drowned out by the roaring of blood in Tamlen’s ears. The nightmares combined with their current conversation brought the ever present fear of losing Mara rearing to the front of his thoughts. It made his kisses rough when he’d have them be gentle, but Mara matched his fierceness, her hands tangling and gripping his hair, gasping softly when Tamlen drew his lips down her throat and back to her lips. He was the first to pull away, and grinned wryly when Mara let out trembling breaths.

“Don’t think that I haven’t been to Veil and back for the same reason to keep you alive,” Tamlen whispered roughly, pressing his forehead against Mara’s. “Don’t think that I won’t race you to the Beast. Don’t think that I haven’t been praying to the gods every day for them to keep you here with me. Don’t think I will ever leave your side, Ma Vhenan.”

Mara dragged him back to her and he eagerly returned her kisses, his hand circling the nape of her neck to bring her closer and deepen the kiss. Tamlen felt _reverence_ when kissing Mara, when touching her. Her skin, soft with rough patches from her scars and the ever present light scent of the forest that mingled with smoke and sun, he loved these things about her and many more. His heart was already racing, but then Mara sighed into his mouth and gently dragged her teeth across his bottom lip he felt as if his heart was going to batter its way out of his chest.

Tamlen forgot about the nightmares, forgot they were in the middle of camp, forgot that Sten or Zevran or _someone_ was probably awake on watch. He forgot about the dog that was right beside them or the fact Oghren was ripping his tent apart snoring not twenty feet away. Forgot about everything except the elven woman in his arms at that moment.

He was about to gently lie her onto the ground when a something soft and heavy abruptly landed on both of them and the dog putting them in darkness, causing Tamlen to freeze and Mara to do the same. Realizing what the object was, Tamlen quickly ripped the blanket off of them and turned about quickly in time to see Alistair sit with a loud thump beside Tamlen.

“ _Felasil,”_ Tamlen spat at Alistair while Mara hid her face on his shoulder. He could feel her shaking from silent laughter. “You have the absolute _worst_ timing in Thedas, shem!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting,” Alistair responded groggily, sleep still heavy in his voice. “Just pretend I’m not here and continue on.”

“Are you serious?”

“Quite. Though I don’t see why I should give you any privacy since it was your loud smacking that woke me up in the first place.”

“You—“

“Alistair, are you alright?” Tamlen had to bite his tongue to keep from talking over Mara when she interrupted him, but as her question registered he stopped staring daggers at Alistair and actually looked at him.

At first glance he seemed fine, but then Tamlen saw shivers running through the man and his face seemed pale and drawn in the weak firelight. It seemed as if Alistair wasn’t spared a sleep without dreams.

“Oh, I’m just peachy. There’s nothing like a rousing nightmare of the Archdemon bearing down on you to leave you feeling peaceful and content.” Alistair grew quiet and then said, “Also, I keep smelling something rotten and I’m pretty sure it’s coming from Oghren’s tent. I’ll have to ask Wynne if she can force the dwarf to take a bath like she did Feron.”

With a disgusted noise Tamlen threw the blanket Alistair had originally thrown on them over the fellow Warden’s shoulders. “Idiot. No amount of soap is going to take that stench away.”

“I bet Wynne could add a bit of magic to the soap,” Mara piped in softly, settling back against Tamlen’s chest.

“That would be brilliant,” Alistair said in agreement. He leaned against Tamlen’s shoulder, and Tamlen could feel the trembling slowly start to subside. “Maybe just enough magic to _burn_ the foulness away.”

Feron whined at the mention of soap and buried his head under the blanket. Mara laughed at her hound and gave him a scratch under his ear. “Don’t worry darling, this soap isn’t meant for you.”

The banter between the three Wardens lasted throughout most of the night until the first light of dawn lit the campsite. Wynne was the first to wake and find the three asleep, still sitting up but leaning against each other for support. Alistair’s head rested on Tamlen’s shoulder, soft snores coming from his open mouth, and Tamlen had his head resting on top on Alistair’s. Mara was still against Tamlen’s chest, wrapped in his arms, though her arms were now wrapped around the massive mabari that had somehow manage to sprawl himself across all three of them.

Wynne chuckled softly to herself before taking another blanket to gently lay over their legs and the dog, letting the Wardens of Ferelden sleep peacefully a while longer before facing another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Felasil-Fool, courtesy of the Elvhen Lexicon by FenxShiral


End file.
